Electric Cars and Other Gadgets

Cars of the Future Today

In recent years, active safety features on cars have grown to include systems that keep you safe in a number of specific situations. Adaptive headlights turn with the car to illuminate the patch of road you're aiming for, increasing visibility on dark roads. Similarly, active high beams will turn on automatically if it's dark enough, and can detect the lights of vehicles in front and turn off automatically to avoid dazzling other drivers.

To help make sure you stay awake behind the wheel, certain Mercedes-Benz models with Attention Assist monitor driving inputs and other factors, and will beep at you to recommend a break if they think you're getting drowsy. Driver distraction is a hot topic in vehicle safety these days, with the NHTSA recently releasing guidelines on how manufacturers can limit distractions in the car. Some infotainment systems, like Ford's Sync, can read aloud text messages off a Bluetooth-connected phone and translate voice to text to help curb texting and driving.

Rear cameras are commonplace these days, appearing as standard equipment on many new cars and helping drivers to see what's behind them when backing up. One new feature available on cars such as the 2013 Ford Fusion is cross-traffic detection, which combines the rear-view camera and blind spot monitoring systems to alert drivers when a vehicle is about to cross their path as they're backing up. Some rearview monitors from Nissan and

Babes of the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show

In this post we look at exotic cars and exotic babes from the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show.

e-Trends in 2012

What trends and big ideas have taken center stage this year? How does FanBox fit? Here's what we found:

By the end of 2012, making a website will not be something you pay thousands of dollars for, it will be something you create and maintain yourself. As a result, the small businesses that do not currently have a website will be able to get online. Those businesses that do have websites will be able to develop something modern that attracts clients, works with search engines, and helps build their business. - David Rusenko, co-founder and CEO of Weebly.com

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Shuttle Endeavour Crossing

The space shuttle Endeavour is seen atop the Over Land Transporter (OLT) after exiting the Los Angeles International Airport 

on its way to its new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. 

Endeavour, built as a replacement for space shuttle Challenger, completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited 

Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles. Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on display in the CSC’s Samuel 

Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, embarking on its new mission to commemorate past achievements in 

space and educate and inspire future generations of explorers. 

IPhone 5 Problems

Apple announced it had sold 5 million iPhone 5 units over the first three days of the device being available in stores, but most analysts had predicted much higher numbers than that. Macquarie Securities’ Kevin Smithen said in a note to investors that he had revised his estimates for iPhone activations to 3.2 million from 4 million for the quarter.

Most analysts have identified the new screen on the iPhone 5 as the main reason for the shortfall. Apple has included an in-cell touch panel in the display of the new device, which basically incorporates the touch sensors and liquid crystals into the same layer and results in thinner LCD screens and ultimately a thinner phone. The iPhone 5 is 18 percent thinner than its predecessor at 7.6 millimeters. However, the innovation makes the manufacturing process a little more complex and it appears all of Apple’s chosen suppliers for the part have not been able to meet the surging demand quickly enough. Japan Display, LG Display, and Sharp were the three suppliers chosen by Apple to manufacture the displays.

“Every time there’s a new technology, there’s a bit of a learning curve before you can ramp production,” Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu told Investor’s Business Daily. “There’s a bunch of new components here.”

Apple has also included a brand new baseband chip in the phone to allow for 4G LTE wireless access, and it appears that the Qualcomm product has also caused some supply worries. “It’s a combination of these new components that’s causing the supply constraints,” Wu added.

Kyle Wiens, the chief executive of iFixit, a site that publishes guides for users to fix their own gadgets said Apple may not be able to fill all pre-orders until October, but is sure the company will put supply back on track for the next quarter.

Wu does not share the disappointment of Apple investors either. “In the big picture,